Featured artist: Daniel Kamarudin

Daniel Kamarudin’s art is epic. With its dark fantasy and sci-fi themes, spectacular detail, and grand scale, I can’t really think of a better word to describe it. Daniel, who is from Malaysia and usually goes by his username theDURRRRIAN (count those r’s and tell me when your eyes cross) on the web, got some attention on BuzzFeed and other sites for his depiction of The Avengers. I don’t even like Captain America as a character, but I’ve shared Daniel’s version because I think it’s fantastic and a hundred times cooler than the usual rendition. However, my absolute favorite piece of his is “The Witch.” The eyes, the colors, the body language; how can I not love it? I want to write her a story, and that’s the feeling all of his work communicates. I can find a story in almost every single piece.

On top of letting me share his art with you, Daniel took the time for a little Q and A with me. Enjoy!

DK: You get mixed answers to this question, so it’s more of an acquired taste really. Although [they have] a pretty pungent smell, I find the insides pretty nice!

TCC: Your deviantART gallery is so varied; one doesn’t often find the crew of The Big Bang Theory and the four horsemen of the apocalypse done in the same style. What’s your inspiration?

DK: TV, movies, games, basically pop culture stuff in general. I’m into that sort of stuff so I tend to draw what I like. My sketchbooks are full of miscellaneous fan art things similar to the Big Bang Theory stuff I did.

TCC: Your work has so much gorgeous detail. How long does one piece usually take you, start to finish?

DK: Depends really. The detail-heavy ones take 8ish hours but the character concepts take around 1-3 hours. These are just estimations though; I usually work on them on and off between class assignments.

TCC: Do you have any favorite books, movies, games, or music you want to share?

DK: I’m a HUGE fan of Guild Wars (my art style is heavily inspired by it). I’ve recently started playing (by that I mean 3-4 months in) and the game is simply inspiring. Other than that, the thing that got me into this whole fantasy genre was World of Warcraft and Dragon Age. Without them, I don’t think I would be pursuing a career in art.

TCC: Are you looking to do art for video games as a career? Or do you have another art field in mind?

DK: Almost 3 years [author’s note: I was stricken with jealousy and disbelief when I read this]. I got into this about a year before I graduated high school and now I’m nearing my third year of college. I still have a lot to learn though.

TCC: Have you ever had a really serious creative block when it was difficult to come up with new things? If so, how did you get through it?

DK: Definitely. I had one recently, and I’m still in a bit of a rut at the moment, but it’s definitely getting better. I guess everyone has their own way of getting over the slump. I figured since mine was caused by fatigue in general I would step away from painting for a while and do something else. In my case, I played Guild Wars 2 for about a week, then got back on the tablet. Yeah, Guild Wars helps get over creative slumps.

TCC: Is there anything you find particularly difficult to draw? For instance, the lovely people who do Assassin’s Creed make some fantastic humans but their horses need some work. Anything like that?

DK: Haha! I have so many things I wish I could draw better I don’t know where to begin. I guess I’m pretty okay with characters [author’s note: understatement] but I wish I could draw cool sci-fi stuff. Moreover, I really don’t know how to draw animals. I use references to try to understand how they work but it never turns out how I want it to. Hopefully I can improve in the future.

For more of Daniel’s work, check out his deviantART and Tumblr! If you would like him to make something for you, send him an email at theDURRRRIAN@live.com (if you haven’t successfully counted the r’s, there are four of them). I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s featured artist, and a big thank you to Daniel for sharing!